Sinking Deeper
by Stephane Richer
Summary: But he and Shouichi can be direct and to the point with each other and they don't mince words or actions.


Sinking Deeper

Disclaimer: Don't own.

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Shouichi plays with Yoshinori's hair until Yoshinori is mildly annoyed but still too unmotivated to swat his hand away, because Yoshinori knows that the hand will stay away for around three seconds (that's his personal over/under anyway) and then find somewhere else on his body, his face (in front of his eyes is the worst and most distracting) or his waist or his shoulder or his hip or his knee or his thigh even though Shouichi has absolutely no intention of going much farther than touching because he's got class in less than an hour so Yoshinori will be forced to get himself off and he really doesn't want to do that because Shouichi will know and smile at him in that one way and it'll just generally suck.

Yoshinori is trying to pay attention to the piece of literature in his hand; he knows it's a classic but honestly the archaic language is kind of insufferable. Shouichi's got both of his hands in Yoshinori's hair now, sort of giving him a scalp massage and it actually feels really nice. Yoshinori arches his neck, careful not to pull a muscle, looking at the smirking face of his boyfriend in his (well-developed from years of soccer and basketball) peripheral vision.

With a mock-exasperated sigh he drops the book. He can just bullshit this essay, anyway. If Yoshinori learned anything from high school, when he overloaded on classes and extracurricular activities, it was how to bullshit his way through humanities. (Well, as long as one limited "learned" to regarding academics and not having anything to do with Imayoshi Shouichi.)

Shouichi's fingers move down to tap on his jawline and are inching steadily toward his neck, and Yoshinori finally does swat them away, taking the approximately three seconds he's given himself to shift his weight and inch a bit closer to Shouichi on the couch.

"Oh, Yoshinori, you're going to join me?" Shouichi says with unbridled delight (it's not entirely fake, Yoshinori thinks. Well, he'd like to think that so he'll stick to it, because sometimes with Shouichi you have to lie to yourself before he lies to you.) and he places his arms around Yoshinori's waist. It would be laughable, what with how much smaller he is than Yoshinori (he makes Yoshinori feel like a big, clunky lump way too often) but for the way Yoshinori's hands cover his and their fingers lock together (two of Shouichi's could easily fit in between the webbing of Yoshinori's hands but that's neither here nor there).

Shouichi's affectionate behavior had surprised Yoshinori at first, but it's quickly become perfectly normal to Yoshinori (he's not sure how he feels about this state of normalcy, but he supposes it could be a hell of a lot worse). Shouichi's not especially possessive; he's very trusting, actually. Perhaps it's wrong to say it as a blanket statement, because it's not that he's naïve or innocent. Shouichi does not trust the unknown, to the extent that with him there is an unknown. He's always prepared for several outcomes, and he trusts that should events occur in a certain way one of his…not desired, but…planned for outcomes will come true, and that's usually the case. Besides, he controls everything to a certain degree (the exact extent is still unknown to Yoshinori) so really he just has to trust in his own ability to control the situation to be able to trust in others.

Still, that's not quite right. He's not a control freak, per se; he views the whole puppet-master thing as mostly a waste of time until it actually suits his purposes (whatever they may be) and that's not very often. But he's good at reading people, at getting them to divulge their true selves to him, and he sits back and smirks and cracks his knuckles and trusts them to act in a certain way and they do often enough for him to not bother with changing his approach.

Shouichi's crafty and subtle and is great at the hug/knife-in-back combo (better, Yoshinori thinks, than the fictional characters who provide the most literal examples) but he's still bluntly honest and open sometimes (it's always when he least expects it and sometimes he wonders if Shouichi's just fucking with him again when he does this), and he's always been that way in regards to his feelings toward Yoshinori. Oh, he likes to tease; he likes to tease everyone, and he's certainly teased Yoshinori and had fun with that (he still does), but in regards to his feelings he can get, well, serious, dropping the smirk and opening his eyes and speaking from whatever the closest thing he has to a heart is (he's not sentimental or romantic or overly-emotional about it, though; that would be way too much).

Yoshinori's a pretty blunt guy, too, and it's hurt him a lot in the past—he can't hide from too many of his own painfully awkward truths and they come out and make people mad and he really hates dealing with angry people. But he and Shouichi can be direct and to the point with each other and they don't mince words or actions.

To put it simply (and what's between them isn't really all that complex, for all of Shouichi's many, many layers) they just love each other.

"Hmm?" Shouichi says, letting his hair fall from behind his ear, smiling a very innocent smile. (He can always tell exactly when and what Yoshinori is thinking; it's not really due to any special connection. Yoshinori's just incredibly easy to read and Shouichi is adept at studying people patiently.)

Yoshinori reaches over and tucks the locks of hair back behind Shouichi's ear. Shouichi bites his hand sharply, and Yoshinori withdraws, swearing and edging away slightly to the other end of the couch.

"Language, Yoshinori, language," Shouichi says.

Yoshinori huffs and slouches, lying back and picking up the book. He could try a witty retort right here, like "That's not what you said when I was sucking your cock last night" but that's not really his style. Someone like Wakamatsu or Aomine, maybe, would say that. But those kinds of retorts don't really amuse Shouichi, anyway, and they always feel weird when Susa tries to say them.

Yoshinori finds his page and returns to reading. Shouichi's fingers return to his hair in a few moments; he's mentally blaming the uneven motions for his distraction but it's really just an excuse. This book is boring and he doesn't want to be reading it.

"Don't you have class?"

"Don't I?" Shouichi repeats, continuing to play with Yoshinori's hair. He gives it a final yank (Yoshinori grumbles and rubs his head) and then tugs the book from Yoshinori's hand, closing it and placing it gently beside him. He takes Yoshinori's empty hand, still suspended in the air, and pulls it toward his mouth.

"Oi, Shouichi, don't bite."

Shouichi lightly kisses his fingertips with his lips parted so that they knock against the closed teeth. Yoshinori scowls. Shouichi lets his hand fall. "I would never, darling."

Yoshinori chucks the tissue box at his head, and Shouichi ducks, laughing as he leaves the room. Yoshinori's scowl vanishes as he watches Shouichi leaves because he's wearing his tightest pair of pants today, and damn.

Shouichi turns around, catching Yoshinori in the act, and if his eyes weren't already closed he'd probably throw a wink at him. Yoshinori blows him a kiss.

"Aren't you the sweetest?"


End file.
